An auto-immune disease is a condition in which the body’s immune system attacks its own healthy cells by mistake. Normally, the immune system can differentiate between foreign and own cells. When having an autoimmune disease, the immune system mistakes part of the body, e.g. joints, skin or organs as foreign. The immune system then releases proteins, so called antibodies that attack healthy cells.
Most autoimmune diseases are associated with an inflammatory status and can affect many parts of the body. However some autoimmune diseases target only one organ. One example is type 1 diabetes which damages the pancreas. Other diseases affect the whole body, like systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)
The main auto immune diseases are:
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Type 1 diabetes
• Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
• Lupus erythematosus (lupus)
• Multiple sclerosis (MS)
• Guillain-Barre syndrome
• Psoriasis
• Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy